Lacroix, the SV insider who posts at IMDB, has been very chatty lately: on Michael, Tom, and various behind the scenes matters. *Some spoilers*

Why is Tom not producing more Hellcats episodes?He is, he's an executive producer on Hellcats, in addition to his producing and acting duties on Smallville (plus he's directing Smallville in October), the man is ridiculously busy.

Questions about Michael's possible return

- Many of the cast and crew remain hopeful, but I'm not holding my breath.

- Shaving the head is only one part of the overall negotiation. But yeah, he doesn't want to shave his head, and depending when the pilot(for Saved by Zeroes) goes, likely won't be allowed to.

- So far no agreement has been reached for Michael to return. But we still have another 14 episodes to shoot, so who knows.

- It not just Michael, it's the network and the producers as well.

Each side has something they want regarding Michael returning to the show. At present, those two sides have not come to an agreement.

Don't lay it all on him.

Little Lex will 'grow up' quickly, will be normal Lex in months?It's a brilliant plan! Of course, Michael would have to wear a wig, on account of Alexander/Lex is a redhead, and Michael a brunette, but it works for me :)

Future of L'il Lex?Considering the Knight in the fire, I don't think Alexander is going to turn out overly heroic.

Potential SV spinoff?I've actually heard this mentioned on set.

Whether it could actually happen, who knows. I doubt Tom or Erica would return for it though.

Allison's episode count:

- So far as I know, Allison is still only doing 5 episodes.

She's coming back in November for her next appearance. Not sure what the plans are for her re: the finale, but it wouldn't surprise me if she's a part of the action.

- I would think that they'd try and get some mileage out of her, and stretch her appearances out over the season.

Location shootsWe've joked about this on set, wondering where the money is coming from, because we haven't been on location this much in a long time. We're back out on location for Abandoned tool.

I really hope we do go back into Downtown Vancouver, really adds a lot of production value to the show that we can't capture on the backlot.

Callum Blue returning as Zod?I can tell you for certain that we haven't filmed anything with him this season, and I haven't heard anything about him coming back.

In the original script for Lazarus, Clark was supposed to encounter ghostly images of past foes including Zod (using stock footage edited in), but in the final episode they only used Lex.

Why is Clark wearing a leather jacket in the 'Shield' promo?It's not nearly as severe was what they used to do to Dean Cain.

It doesn't look bad in person.

Why is Jor-El such a dick?Clark has issues he has to overcome before he can become Superman, Jor-El knows this, and that's why he took the suit away. He's just bad at explaining himself.

(Me: Heh, NO.)

Clark & Ollie's costumesI'm assuming Claymore Clothiers in Vancouver made the Trench Coat, as it's the only uniform company I know of in town, and most of the film and TV shows deal with them for that kind of thing.

And yeah, the GA suits are very expensive. They're all leather, and custom made by a company here in Vancouver. A LOT of detail work has gone into them. At one point, there was something like 7 of them. One got burned up last season, 3 or 4 of them got modified to the new look (Justin's, as well as ones for the Stunt doubles), and the others are still the original style.

One thing about that link to the GA costume. Justin is actually 6'4", and taller than Tom who is 6'3", but Tom is physically bigger/beefier than Justin.

On Blur shirtsThe shirt was actually from American Apparel :p

And it was painted that way n purpose. They wanted it to look like something Clark had made on his own.

Yeah I think so...and since Justin's hair is bouncy as heck I'm thinking that Tom intentionally made himself an inch or two shorter than he really is, because he doesn't look two inches smaller than Jared.

I haven't been reading anything new about what fans think about Michael coming back, but I'm assuming the majority are still putting the sole responsibility on Michael from Lacroix's comments. Always nice to see him defending Michael. :)

I'm assuming the majority are still putting the sole responsibility on Michael from Lacroix's comments. Always nice to see him defending Michael. :)At the 200th episode party, a producer said that Michael could wear a bald cap if he wanted. And naughty Tom told the media that fans should start a petition for Michael to return (he wants his Mikey back so bad!)

So people are grumping that Michael is the one halting negotiations.

That's where I'm confused: he sounded more open to offers at the Con but maybe the network wants more episodes and less money than he's willing to settle for?

Thanks so much for the Lacroix updates! It's so interesting to read his comments. I don't know what to think about Michael. The only thing I can imagine causing an impasse is the storyline, but who knows? I'm still hoping they can work something out.

In the meantime, though, new Michael pics! He went to the premiere that James was tweeting about last night!